Cutlery sharpener



July 30, 1935. A A, TILL 2,009,420

CUTLERY SHARPENER Filed Aug. 26, 1935 INVENTOR 14325022 134 V Patented July 30, 1935 PATENT OFFICE.

CUTLERY SHARPENER Anton Till, Belleville, N. J.

Application August, 26,

3 Claims.

This invention relates, generally, to cutlery sharpeners and the invention has reference, more particularly, to a novel sharpening device especially adapted; for sharpening the edges of knives and like cutting blades such as are employed for domestic and other uses.

Many cutlery sharpeners heretofore made, are unsatisfactory in use largely because such devices fail to present the blade to be sharpened to the sharpeningstone or wheel at a constant angle, so

' that a keen edge cannot be obtained. Also, in many of these devices grit from the emery wheel or stone is caught in the blade guide or guides at the edge of the blade, thereby dulling the edge. Also, many of these Sharpeners are complicated in nature and expensive to manufacture, thereby preventing their extensive use.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel cutlery sharpener of simple, cheap construction which is easily operatedto quickly sharpen the edges of knives and similar cutlery blades, the said sharpener being so 'designed as to enable unskilled persons to sharpen knives perfectly with but little effort and in a minimum of time.

Another object of the present invention lies in the provision of a novel cutlery sharpener of the above character having blade guiding means for causing a blade being sharpened to be presented at a constant angle to the stone or abrasive wheel, thereby insuring effective sharpening of the blade and confining the abrasions produced by the stone or wheel to'the sharpened edge portion of the blade so as to produce a sharpened blade of neat appearance.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel cutlery sharpener wherein the stone or abrasive wheel turns slowly while a blade is being sharpened, thereby enabling the stone or abrasive wheel to have a long life in use, the said sharpener being designed so as to prevent the collection of dirt and grit at the edge portion of a blade being sharpened, thereby preventing the dulling of the blade edge.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the same.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the novel cutlery sharpener of this invention in use.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in elevation of the cutlery sharpener of Fig. 1, and

1933, Serial No. 686,894

(Cl. 5I-210) Fig. 3 is a side view with parts broken away of the structure shown in Fig. 2.

Similar characters of reference are employed in said views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring, now to the said drawing, the refer- -.,f ence numeral I designates the novel cutlery sharpener of the invention as a whole. Sharpener I comprises a handle 2 which is illustrated as made of strip metal and as having a folded over portion- 3 that has its free end secured as by a rivet 4 to the main portion of the handle. A shallow pan-like guard: 5 is secured to the main portion of handle I as by rivets 6, the said guard having flanges I at its sides and being provided at its top and bottom with forwardly projecting portions 8 and 8 terminating in blade guides 9 and 9, respectively.

The blade guards 9 and 9 are substantially V-shaped in section as shown in Fig. 3, and the open mouths of these guides are positioned adjacent opposite edge portions of the flat workingface Nlof an abrasive wheel or stone I I. The bladeguides 9. and 9 are inclined at the proper angle and in opposite directions withrespect to the abrasive wheel II' so that a knife or other blade, as, for example, the knife blade l2, when held within these guides will be properly positioned with respect to the working face I for effectively sharpening the cutting edge of the blade, The outer leg of each of the V-shaped guides 9 and 9' has a reduced end portion l3 which is preferably curvedv outwardly slightly so as to enable the easy insertion of blades thereunder in use. 3 U

The abrasive wheeler stone Ill is illustrated as having a recessed central portion I4 and is turnably mounted at its center upon a pivotal bolt I that is carried by the handle 2. The abrasive wheel I I is positioned within the pan-like guard 5 and is retained in desired longitudinal position on bolt I5 as by washers I6 and H.

In use, assuming that it is desired to sharpen a knife I2, the knife is moved transversely over the working face of the abrasive wheel for insertion through the open mouth of or under the end portion I3 of one of the blade guides, as for example, blade guide 9 as shown in Fig. 1. The knife I2 is moved into the V-shaped blade guide until the back edge I9 of the knife is held against the bight I8 of the blade guide while one side of the cutting edge of the blade rests upon the working face ll! of the abrasive wheel. The knife I2 is preferably held in the users left hand while the handle 2 of the sharpener is preferably held in the right hand. The

user then reciprocates the sharpener I back and forth, holding the back edge IQ of the knife blade against the bight I8 while the abrasive wheel H rests upon and moves over one side of the cutting edge 20 of the blade. As the sharpener is moved back and forth, the working face of the stone ll slides over that side of the blade cutting edge and effectively sharpens the edge. The bight l8 cooperates with the working face of the abrasive wheel to hold the knife edge in constant angular relation with respect to the face of the stone at all times. After sharpening one side of the blade cutting edge, the knife I2 is moved transversely into guide 9 so that the.

back edge 19 of the blade again engages the bight [8 of the guide 9'. The sharpenerfil is again reciprocated while holding theabrasive wheel against the remaining side of the cutting edge 20, thereby causing such remaining side of the blade cutting edge to be sharpened.

In practice, it has been found that it is merely necessary to give the sharpener a; few strokes 'back and forth to effectively sharpen one side of the blade cutting edge and then by turning the knife over and inserting the same into the other blade guide the remaining side of the blade cutting edge may be quickly sharpened by similar movement of the sharpener. Since'the blade is always held at a definite angle with respect to the working face I!) of the stone, only the blade cutting edge portion is operated on by the stone, and consequently the main surfa'ceof the blade is not disfigured so that the device'produces a neat and attractive finish to the'blade.

In use, as the handle 2 is reciprocated, the abrasive wheel H turns gradually, thereby presenting new portions of its working face In to the knife cutting edge resulting in long life of the abrasive wheel. Since the blade guides 9 and 9 do not engage the emery wheel working face ID at any point, there is no chance for dust or grit to collect on the face of the emery wheel which foreign matter would tend to dull the edge of the blade being sharpened. I

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, as defined by the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim: 7

1. A cutlery sharpener comprising a handle, an

abrasive wheel turnably mounted on said handle and having a flat working face in a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle, and a pair of blade guides positioned adjacent diametrically opposite sides of said abrasive wheel and in substantial alignment with said handle, each of said blade guides having an outer bight portion and an inwardly directed mouth portion, and being arranged so that a blade may be moved transversely with respect to its length out of one blade'guide and directly across the abrasive wheel into the mouth portion of the other blade guide so that the back edge of the blade will engage the bight portion of a blade guide while one side of the blade cutting edge engages said abrasive wheel .worlnng face.

, 2. A cutlery sharpener comprising a handle, an

abrasive wheel turnably mounted on said handle and having a flat exposed working face, a pair of blade guides rigidly carried by said handle and positioned at diametrically opposite sides of said of the blades will engage said working face at a desired fixed angle.

3. A cutlery sharpener comprising a handle, an abrasive Wheel turnably mounted on said handle and having a fiat working face, a pair of blade guides carried by said handle and positioned at opposite sides of said abrasive wheel and in approximate alignment with said handle, said blade guides being substantially V-shaped and inclined upwardly and outwardly in opposite directions with respect to diametric opposite edges of the working face of said abrasive wheel, the relative- 1y wide open mouths of said blade guides being positioned adjacent diametric opposite edge portions of said working face, the entire area of said .working face being unobstructed between said the cutting edges of said blades engage said working face at a desired angle.

ANTON TILL. 

